Melody for a Memory
by LH-chan
Summary: Nearly ten years after the end of the series, Faye and Edward visit the grave of an old friend. (Songfic, deathfic, sad.)


Author's Note: 

Y'know what, I still don't own Cowboy Bebop, and no matter how many fics I write, the fact remains that a bunch of other people own it instead. Also on the long-long list of things that I don't own is the song "Dream On", Aerosmith owns it actually, but as it was the inspiration for this story in the first place I quite like it. =^_^=   
  
  
  
Melody for a Memory  
LH-chan '02   
  
  
_I don't even want to think about how much this is gonna cost me,_ thought Faye Valentine irritably, as she stepped out into the street to flag down a taxi.  
Normally, she'd have taken her ship, the Redtail, for the short flight, rather than pay by the minute to be driven through the winding maze of crowded Martian surface streets; but the girl who bounded out into the street behind her, jumping up and down in an exaggerated parody of her own actions, reminded her why she was not.  
Edward, Faye wasn't about to attempt tying her to Redtail's roof and flying with her in the city, she'd probably be arrested for reckless endangerment, nevermind that Ed had lived by herself who-knows-where since she was practically a baby. 

Faye wasn't surprised that the odd girl had turned up this morning, she'd been doing it for years since she first left the Bebop, dropping in and out of their lives; when someone was injured and they needed an extra hand, when she had hacked into the trail of a valuable bounty... 

...whenever she thought that they might be having fun. 

They weren't going to have any fun today, but Ed had still turned up. 

That didn't surprise Faye either, this was just as important to Ed as it was to her. 

  
_Every time that I look in the mirror  
All these lines on my face getting clearer  
The past is gone  
It went by like dusk to dawn  
Isn't that the way  
Everybody's got their dues in life to pay_

  
Their combined efforts attracted a cab at last, and Faye muttered directions to the young driver as they climbed into the back seat.  
The rearview mirror attracted Faye's eye as she sat, its angle such that she could see her reflection from her seat. Lines on her face reflected back at her, she was not so young anymore; no longer was she the young woman who had only been so, unable to remember being younger, fifty years removed from growing older.  
_Proof that years have passed,_ thought Faye, as the taxi moved into the sea of passing vehicles. _Years...since I started this life...and it feels like it all passed while I wasn't paying attention.  
Maybe I haven't...it's a hard life, bounty hunting, keeping food in your stomach and ahead of your creditors...not dying for your next payday...._  
Faye turned away from the mirror.  
_But then...its never me that dies, is it?_

The taxi slowed to a halt as it reached their destination; Faye cursed the driver as he emptied her cash card to cover the fee.  
"Faye-Faye! Come on, follow Ed!" shouted Edward, already out of the taxi and jumping up and down on the grass next to the sidewalk, twirling about with the flowers she had brought with her.  
Faye glared at the taxi driver as she exited the car.  
"I'm coming, Ed."  
With an extra high leap and a big smile, Edward bounded down the path.  
"Hurry Faye-Faye!"  
Faye shook her head, and followed the girl at a slow walk. Only Edward could be so cheerful in a place like this.  
Briefly, she wondered if Ed even knew the way, but she supposed it didn't matter much, this graveyard was a somber place, but a beautiful one, Faye supposed she didn't mind wandering around. 

  
_Yeah, I know nobody knows  
where it comes and where it goes  
I know it's everybody's sin,  
you got to lose to know how to win_

  
Edward did know the way, Faye found, as she caught up with her at last on the far side of a grassy hill overlooking Tharsis City. The redhead was standing, still and quiet, in front of a headstone, as Faye approached. 

It didn't last, a moment later, Ed erupted into a burst of song, capering about once more; placing and replacing a handful of her flowers around the grave before bounding a short way up the hill.  
Faye stared for a moment, recovering from the experience that was Edward enough to approach the grave herself. 

She looked out over the grass, and the fields, and the city for a moment, her eyes, perhaps, shining a bit more than usual in the afternoon sun, before she could finally bring herself to read the name on the headstone, carved in strong letters into the dark rock.  
"Jet Black." 

Faye reguarded the stone, uncertain; she'd never been good at this sort of thing. She was almost certain no one could hear her, other than anyone else who happened to be in the graveyard nearby. Dead was dead, she always thought, you couldn't hang around to hear people talk to you after you were dead.  
But...still, just in case. 

"I'm sorry," she said at last, rambling, uncertain of what she should say. "I didn't come to the funeral yesterday.... I planned the whole thing though, all those ISSP guys flying in...that's something, right.... I just thought it might be better if I was by myself...."  
Behind her, Edward's song increased in volume as she began sprinkling flowers on another grave. "I guess I didn't even do that right did I...but I guess you might already know that...if you hear anybody, its gonna be her...." 

She let the sentence trail off, squeezing her eyes shut against tears that threatened to fall. 

  
_Half my life's in books' written pages  
Live and learn from fools and from sages  
You know it's true  
All the things come back to you_

  
Faye retreated from the grave, Jet had been her partner...her friend, for nearly ten years now, she couldn't bear to read the carven name any more. Turning away, she walked up the hill, to get Edward and go back to the ship. 

"Hi hi, Faye-Faye!" Ed chirped as Faye approached.  
"Lets go Ed," said Faye, walking past the grave Ed had been decorating without really looking.  
"Doesn't Faye-Faye want to see Spike-person too?" asked Ed.  
Faye stopped, a sudden feeling of numb confusion coming over her, she turned to face Ed, who stood beside the gravestone she had been decorating, singing her nonsense song once more.   
Silently, Faye mouthed the carven letters in the rock as she read them.  
"Spike Spiegel."  
She couldn't bear to read that name either. 

She hadn't known were his grave was, she had never visited it, she had never even tried; Jet had gone after him, Jet had identified his body...had planned his burial.  
She knew he was dead...she'd never wanted to confirm that fact with evidence. 

She looked out over the hill again; she could see the city, the grass, the fountain near the cemetery gates in the distance, and Jet's grave; just a few steps away down the hill. All these years she'd never known where Spike was buried, and yet she had managed to bury Jet almost beside him.  
_Funny,_ thought Faye, feeling hot tears finally begin to work their way down her face. _Our weird little family is slowly reuniting._  
She looked out across the scenery again.  
_At least we'll be somewhere nice this time._

"Faye-Faye?" Edward's voice jarred Faye from her thoughts. "Why are you crying, Faye-Faye?"  
"Why are you singing?" snapped Faye, irritated by Ed's seemingly ridiculous question.  
Ed stared, blinking her big golden eyes in thoughtful surprise; she seemed to be taking Faye's question seriously.  
"Ed is singing," she said at last, "because it makes Jet-person and Spike-person happy! They like nice singing you know."  
Now is was Faye's turn to look surprised, the way Ed was talking, she wondered if the girl understood their friends' death at all.  
"Edward...they're dead you know."  
Again, Ed stared thoughtfully.  
"Ed knows," she said, "but Ed sings anyway. Ed doesn't know if they can hear Ed, but if they can, then Ed's singing will make them happy." 

As though that settled the matter, Ed bounded away, running around Jet's grave once, before standing between the two graves and continuing her song, singing of blue skies and bright stars.  
Singing to make the friends she had lost happy. 

Slowly, Faye walked the few steps down the slope to join her, tears still tracing their way down her face.  
"Hey, Ed...how does that song go again?" 

  
_Sing with me, sing for the years  
sing for the laughter and sing for the tears  
Sing with me, if it's just for today  
Maybe tomorrow the good Lord will take you away_

  
  
Dream On, Space Cowgirls... 


End file.
